3G iPad 2 Soon Available in China, Retail Stores Coming to Hong Kong

Apple has finally been given the certification to sell the 3G iPad 2 in mainland China, after a period of only being able to sell the WiFi units, Wall Street Journal informs us. All that the Cupertino giant needed was a network access license from the Tellecommunication Equipment Certification Center in China.

The device is now listed as model number A1396, compatible with the 3G WCDMA standard and working on local carrier China Unicom. Yesterday, there were already iPad 2 3G units listed for sale on the Apple Chinese website, but they were removed since then. Shipping mentioned 2 to 3 weeks of waiting time. Among Apple’s plans for that region we also find a new Hong Kong retail store, that will open this quarter in the International Finance Center’s IFC mall.

September 24th is the opening date and with Tim Cook seeing Greater China as an opportunity expect the local Asian market to evolve a lot in the following years.